Bill's Blog on Industrial Ethernet

During November 28-30, over 43,000 visitors (a record) attended SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2006 International Exhibition & Conference in Nuremberg, Germany. Europe's premier tradeshow for electric automation systems and components included 1,203 exhibitors from 31 countries and occupied some 77,500 sqm of floor space (also a record). Special venues were dedicated for Electric Drives and Motion Control, Mechanical Systems and Periphery, Control Technology and Sensors, Software and Sensors, and Control Technology and Interface Technology. Key exhibition topics were Ethernet in Automation, Motion Control, and Safety and Security in Automation. Several conferences addressed the role of Industrial Ethernet in automation. Specialized Ethernet information was also available from various organizations such as ODVA, PI (PROFIBUS and PROFINET International) and the EtherCAT Technology Group.

Contemporary Controls and its subsidiaries were represented by George Thomas and Bennet Levine from the USA, Jan Thriene and Joerg Wehnert from Germany, Peter Jefferson from the UK, and Basile Waite from China. The company booth featured a very popular race car game played over an Industrial Ethernet redundant ring.